A spare tire mounted on a wheel occupies a considerable volume and is completely useless until needed. When a tire is changed, the dirty, old tire and wheel are usually stored within the vehicle. This soils the interior of the vehicle as well as personal goods in proximity thereof.
Podhajsky Patent No. 3,372,821 is a clever solution to many of these problems and reference is made to the spare tire holder disclosed therein. Reference is also made to Combs Patent No. 4, 537,555; Lowe Patent No. 1,942,176; Wise Patent No. 1,915,564 and Van Sickel Patent No. 1,854,495 for various different lock devices used in conjunction with spare tires mounted on a wheel.
A 1989 Chevrolet pickup truck has a spare tire carrier and a retracting mechanism actuated by a rotatable shaft extending towards the rear bumper thereof. A crank is extended through an aperture in the bumper and into engagement with a free end of the shaft so that the crank can impart rotation into the shaft and thereby lift a wheel mounted spare tire into the spare tire carrier. Theft of a spare tire and wheel from this type tire carrier has become so prevalent that there is now available an extension device similar to Podhajsky '821 that can be exended through the bumper aperture into engagement with the shaft, and the free end of the extension device locked respective to the bumper. This arrangement is objectionable to some because they find it is unsightly, and that the loose lock rattles, and therefore makes undesirable noises while driving along rough roads. Moreover, there are those rascals who can disable an ordinary lock in a few seconds time.
It would be desirable to be able to modify or retrofit existing spare tire carriers, such as found on a 1989 Chevrolet pickup truck, by the provision of a security drive device which can be simply inserted through the hole in the truck bumper and thereafter driving one marginal end of the device into the shaft, while the other marginal end is retained within the bumper hole and extends slightly therefrom where it is readily available for actuation by a crank device. Such an apparatus desirably would have lock means associated therewith which provides security for the spare tire and wheel.